In September 2024, the floods had damaged sugar beet fields and important railway lines, including the central transport axis through the Tullnerfeld region. This route is essential for the transport of sugar beet to the AGRANA sites in Tulln and Leopoldsdorf. The closure of the line threatened to temporarily jeopardise operations in Tulln.
An alternative route was organised in the shortest possible time: an exceptional transport with diesel locomotives via Krems to prevent parts of the harvest from spoiling and becoming unusable.
A total of 1.8 million tonnes of sugar beet were transported in Austria during this campaign, an increase compared to the 1.5 million tonnes in the previous year. It concerns also RCG's Hungarian subsidiary. During the campaign, 430,000 tonnes sugar beet were transported to Hungary's only sugar factory, Magyar Cukor Zrt.
The railway plays a big role regarding agriculture products in Austria and Hungary. For instance around 55% of beet transport in these countries is by rail, and in terms of volume it represents the largest single agricultural transport operation in the Rail Cargo Group.
